Happy Running - From a Princess to a Diva!

My friend Mary Ellen will be running her first Half Marathon tomorrow in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  Her and her daughter will be participating in the Divas Half Marathon.  

Mary Ellen has been working and training hard and I am SO excited for her.  Can't wait to see pictures and hear stories!  

All my running princesses out there - let's send them some Diva vibes tomorrow!

You GOT THIS Mary Ellen!  

Princess 1/2 Marathon Success!

Well, after months of training and wondering if I would survive 13.1 miles - I DID! 

We did it- Alexandra, Gretchen, Marcelle & I did it!  

Friday, February 22 we arrived at Walt Disney World!  It was the beginning of one crazy weekend.  Mom and I went straight to the Princess 1/2 Marathon Expo.  Insanity there, I tell you.  There were so many people, it was hot and messy.  I quickly picked up my race packet, did a quick look around and headed out.  It was not worth the hassle.

We headed straight to Magic Kingdom!

First thing we saw getting in the park was my FAVORITE - Mary Poppins!  Of course, I needed to make a stop for a photo op ~ 

Then we found some VIP seats to watch the Parade! 

Mandatory Main Street, USA/Castle Picture

Saturday morning started out with the Princess Breakfast at EPCOT.  It was a great morning and we even got to hangout with Merida.  She is one badass Princess!

We spent all day Saturday at EPCOT where we had a chance to catch up with Alexandra, Marcelle and Gretchen and their respective families! 

It had been way too long since we had all gotten together!!

And what trip to Disney World is complete without Minnie ears??  

Sunday morning started out bright and early at 2:30 am!  A bus ride later - we all met up ready for the race!

Princesses ready for battle!

I was lucky to have my very own chEAR Squad ~ 

Mom's ready for her cheering duties!

The weather was hot and humid!  My poor lungs didn't know what to do with that.  I had trained in Maryland, where the weather has been SUPER cold.  The race was VERY crowded.  It made it very hard to keep or even set your pace.  My pace was much slower than during my entire training - but not much I could do about it.  

As we started running I realized I had thought of all the physical aspects of the race but never thought about how to handle my "mind"!  I didn't want to spend the whole race thinking about stressful things... So, I told myself that I had to smile thru it - which surprisingly enough was a lot easier to than I thought.  

Three hours later --- we FINISHED the race!!  

I had a blast running.  My new playlist was awesome and had me singing along and aloud (embarrassingly so) at times.  And just like that ~  made it to mile 13 and could see the finish line ahead!  It was amazing.  

Appropriately enough Jamiroquai's "Canned Heat" came on my shuffle right before the finish line!  How PERFECT!  

What's next you ask?  

That's correct - I registered for the Marine Corps Marathon yesterday!  Am I crazy? Yes, just a little bit.  My 30s have been all about stepping out of my comfort zone and I will continue to do so with God's help and the support of my amazing family and friends!! 

2013 ... Here We GO!

Happy New Year!!  

Closed out 2012 with a nice little run.  It was COLD, really cold - but it was wonderful.  Had not ran since my 10 miler the week before, it felt good to get back out there.  That is until my little outing became a giant head cold.  

Welcomed 2013 with a crappy head cold - it can only get better from there, right?  After being a mess of Vicks VapoRub, Kleenex and Tylenol for the past 2 days, I am super ready to breathe again - literally.

I hope to be all better by Saturday.  Signed up to run the DC Soup Run with my friend Valerie.  This is a 5K (or 5 miles - depending on how motivated I am) at Hains Point in Washington DC.  We get soup when we finish...!!  :-)

As far as the training plan, still on track.  This weekend I'm scheduled to run 12 miles. Hoping to get those done Sunday since the temperature should be much nicer ~ close to 50s!  

I also signed up for a "Booty BootCamp" at the gym as part of the cross-training.  My Zumba instructor will be running it 3x a week for the month of January.  She gave us a little taste of it a few weeks ago and I was sore for days... a little booty shaking and a lot of good toning exercises ~~  Can't wait!!

Now, back to my couch and a little SATC movie action.  Will check back in after the race Saturday.  Wish me luck with the running and the breathing!

Here's a little inspiration - 

   

Slow and Steady

If you know me, you know how much I love my turtles!  These are just a few from my collection ~

My training for my 1/2 marathon definitely has some aspects that remind me of that little turtle racing the hare - slow, slow, slow but steady!

Training got a little delayed after I got hit by the mother of all colds/flu/plague.  I was miserable for about 2 weeks and couldn't really get out there and keep up with my running.  When I finally made it back out I struggled to complete my scheduled 8 miles.  After several coughing attacks and truly feeling like I would pass out, had to call it a day.

Now, two weeks later, I was about to face the longest run I've ever attempted - 10 MILES!  I have been dreading and stressing those 10 miles since I saw them on the training schedule.  

I had been checking the weather for the past week or so, trying to decide when would be the ideal time to attempt this run.  Saturday we had the most insane wind we've had in a long time.  That was NOT ideal.  I waited until Sunday, of course, this is what the weather looked like ~ 

do they make running UGGS?

I suited up and off I went!  I never thought I could make it but I DID IT!  

10 MILES = DONE!

Now that I have conquered those 10 miles I actually feel like I will definitely finish the 13.1 in February ~ Slow & Steady!

10 Day Forecast

Life is busy!  Since I knew I had Air National Guard Drill this past weekend, I knew I had to play around with scheduling my "long run" for the week - 4 miles at my "race pace".

According to the Weather Channel 10 day forecast Monday was going to be PERFECT 

(And it is!)

Except that instead of running, I'm looking more like this...

NOT FAIR!  I have been looking forward to this run since, well, 10 days ago!  Oh well.  :-(  Life has a funny way of getting in the way of race training.  For now, I'm on forced bed rest for the next 2 days.  Back at it when my hacking cough subsides I guess.

National Race to End Women's Cancer - 8K

4 November 2012 - National Race to End Women's Cancer 2012

Bib and chip arrived in the mail right on time for the race - no thanks to Hurricane Sandy, which threatened delayed everything!  

#117

Woke up bright and WAY early race morning.  Almost had a heart attack when I got in my car and saw this...

It was COLD!!

After bundling up and picking up my personal cheering squad (mom & dad!), off we went to DC.  And, no, it did not warm up much by race time.  It was freezing!  

The race was great.  The course itself was not bad, but boy, DC is one hilly city!!  There were several hills along the course - those hurt.  

8K Course

My time was decent - considering how cold it was and the hills!  (The actual time from the race results - 1:02:28)

 

As far as my placement for the race, that's another story.  Along the course, I noticed several people cheating - cutting the course and going back towards the finish line without completing the full race.  It was very disappointing to see.  I did say something to a few of them, but only got attitude back.  This was a shame, considering what a wonderful event it was.  I placed somewhere right in the middle of all runners, but that's definitely not accurate - at least, I won't acknowledge it as so.  :-)

All in all, it was a wonderful morning.  I had the chance to run with an amazing friend and her son (who kicked everyone's butt and ran the 8k in about 3o minutes!)

Austin, Erica & Jean

Even more amazing was getting to the finish line to see the smiling faces and cheers of the two most important people in my life, mom and dad!!

Jeannie (mom) & Albert (dad - taking the picture)!

Sometimes ~ life happens!

I'd like to say that I've been busy running and training... but no, life just happened...

Let's go back a few weeks... I had planned on starting my official training routine October 15.  That didn't happen due to some military obligations.  

Not to worry, the real 4 month mark was actually October 22, which means I was good to go as far as training timing was concerned.  

As I mentioned earlier, I am following the SELF Magazine half marathon training plan.  I also decided to use Jeff Galloway's Princess Half Marathon Training plan for the running portions of the plan.  He did a really great job simplifying his plan for us girls!  

As far as the running goes, and after much consideration, I had to accept the fact that I am not a "beginner" runner.  All the plans for beginners seem too slow and just not challenging enough.  I decided on Galloway's training plan for Experienced runners with the goal to finish the race in "the upright position".  Yeah, that sounds about right!!  

Training was going great, I was feeling good!!  And then - 

SANDY! 

October 28, 29 & 30

Sandy wreaked havoc on the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.  We truly got lucky here in La Plata and only had some minors issues to deal with.  My prayers and thoughts continue to go out to all those who were affected by Sandy.  Needless to say, training was delayed a bit. 

Trying to get back on track now.  This Sunday, November 4th, I will run the National Race to End Women's Cancer in Washington DC.  This will be an 8K (4.97miles) starting out at Freedom Plaza.  Wish me LUCK!!

#117